While other retailers are seeing inflation impact spending, it has not had the same effect on specialty retailers, experts note.

Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, Dallas and Miami, unveiled the results of its 2022 Liquid Insights Tour, a coast-to-coast educational initiative designed to explore and identify the latest trends in cocktails and wine. Over the course of 111 days, Brian Masilionis, director of on-premise commercial strategy and national accounts for Southern Glazer’s, led a team of its mixologists to sample more than 400 drinks in 83 restaurants, bars and hotels, compiling their insights to discover emerging cocktail and wine trends across the United States.

As the grab-and-go style of convenience stores has changed a bit during the past couple years, experts note that convenience stores still continue to perform well despite ever-changing needs of consumers.

Drizly, an Uber Company and a leading beverage alcohol eCommerce shop, announced its Sip with Purpose initiative, a new program dedicated to supporting and driving growth of brands owned by members of historically underrepresented groups in the beverage alcohol industry. This initiative includes a $4 million media commitment to raise awareness and support these brands, as well as the launch of Drizly’s Brand Accelerator Program.

New research from Chicago-based IRI, which recently merged with The NPD Group, reveals elevated at-home beverage alcohol consumption is here to stay. Despite high inflation concerns, retail price increases for beverage alcohol remain more moderate than other CPG categories. IRI’s 2022 Midyear Alcohol Update highlights that many consumers are opting to celebrate and socialize at home.

Big-box and club stores have been popular since the mid-1970s. They differ from traditional department and chain stores due to their large size, buy-in-bulk products and membership requirements.

Following multiple years of downturn, the foodservice industry has demonstrated perseverance and is making a comeback.

The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, announced the launch of Coca-Cola Freestyle 8100, a new back-of-house dispenser developed specifically for the crew-serve occasion. The new dispenser’s advanced technology streamlines drink pouring for foodservice crews, helping reduce drive-thru wait times for diners while providing the beverage quality and variety they crave, according to the company. 

Consumers in the United States are opting to spend more on their drinks in bars and restaurants as premiumization drives the recovery of the on-premise channel after COVID-19. A trend that was paused during the pandemic now is accelerating again, CGA’s exclusive On Premise Measurement (OPM) service shows. The premium price tier of the spirits market took a 40% share of sales by value in February 2022, while super-premium took 18%.